Pols fear 'SOPA backlash'

In the wake of the Internet blackout that led to the dramatic death of two controversial online piracy bills, a new warning has entered the Hill vernacular: “Don’t get SOPA’d.”

Lawmakers are tiptoeing around issues that could tick off tech heavyweights such as Google or Amazon. They don’t want a legislative misstep to trigger the same kind of online revolt that killed the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect IP Act in the Senate in January.

That means the industry now has the upper hand in some legislative debates — from cybersecurity to online sales tax.

“Nobody wants another SOPA moment,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), a vocal critic of SOPA, told POLITICO. “The nerds are more powerful than anyone thought, and the tech industry flexed its muscle like never before.”

Lawmakers don’t want to give the tech industry a reason to flex that muscle again at the expense of their own bills, so they’re going to extra lengths to address the industry’s concerns and smooth out disagreements that could escalate into bigger fights.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) said the anti-SOPA movement showed a certain “coming of political age” for the tech industry, and his colleagues in the House are treading carefully.

“They’re involving the tech community more and are more interested in listening,” said Polis, who also opposed SOPA. “They’re paying closer attention now.”

The SOPA wounds are still fresh. It was less than two months ago that Wikipedia and Reddit went dark in protest of SOPA and PIPA, and Google blacked out its logo on its homepage. Tech blogs warned of the dangers of the two Hollywood-backed bills that would have ratcheted up the legal consequences of hosting illegally copied content on the Web. The entertainment industry, which had done an excellent job lining up bipartisan support for the bills, hoped the legislation would significantly curb the online piracy that has decimated their business models.

But Web companies saw it as government overreach that could lead to censorship and gigantic legal expenses for startups. They rallied their user base, spread the message on social media and prompted millions of angry phone calls and emails to Congress. Within two days of the blackout, Reid officially shelved PIPA and Rep. Lamar Smith abandoned SOPA. The Netizens claimed victory.

Now, the question is whether that grass-roots force can direct its ire at any new effort in Washington that could be perceived as being negative for the Internet and the companies built upon it.

“Inside the Beltway, the hope is that the SOPA revolt was a one-time thing … but there’s no doubt that the citizens of the Internet are riled up and plan to stay that way,” said Larry Downes, senior adjunct fellow at Tech Freedom, a policy think tank. “Once the pitchforks are up, it’s hard to put them down.”

There likely won’t be another reason to wield those pitchforks this year, partly because very little is expected to happen on Capitol Hill before the presidential election. But even on cybersecurity — the hot tech debate this month — movement is extra slow as lawmakers carefully try to line up tech industry support.

“There’s so much fear about a SOPA backlash that it’s almost halting progress on anything,” said one tech industry source who’s involved in the cybersecurity talks. “With every Internet and technology issue coming forward, people worry and ask, ‘Is this the next SOPA?’”